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Bring On The Worm Burner
Topwater toads and buzzbaits shouldn’t be the only things buzzing across your lake this spring
By DAVID HUNTER JONES Senior Writer
SPRINGTIME BRINGS ABOUT a renewal of the outdoors. Lakes thaw, plants turn green and wildlife becomes active once again. In waters everywhere, bass and baitfish resume a more active predator/prey relationship. Many anglers take advantage of this activity by tossing topwater baits such as toads and buzzbaits. But, where grass is present, there’s an easier way to get bit: by buzzing a worm. Buzzing worms are easy to use, totally snagless and provoke smashing topwater strikes. “It’s called buzzing a worm because that’s what you’re doing — working a worm along the surface like a buzzbait,” Jacksonville, Fla., pro Patrick Pierce explains. “But, it’s more subtle than a buzzbait, won’t get hung up as easily and is easier to use. It’s darn near idiot-proof.”
If you’ve got a frog rod and can wind a reel, then you’ve got everything you need to successfully buzz a worm — except maybe the worm. Pierce believes that the best time of year to throw a buzz worm is immediately after the spawn. Depending on where you are, this can be anywhere from March to May. He’ll continue to use it through summer until the water cools. “There has always been this misconception that in the summer, all of the fish go 25 or 30 feet deep. On lakes with dams and generation schedules, a lot of them may go deep, but there’s always a population of fish that stay shallow. They just get back into thick vegetation,” he says. “When you’re trying to cover a lot of this vegetation, a buzzing worm is more efficient than flipping into it piece by piece. Plus, fish get conditioned to toads and buzzbaits, so this gives them a different look.”
Pierce has successfully used the technique on lakes Eufaula and Guntersville, as well as tidal fisheries everywhere. His worm of choice is either a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm or the plus-sized Magnum version. “The Ultra Vibe Speed Worms have an action similar to a small buzzbait but they won’t get hung in eelgrass like a buzzbait will,” Pierce says. “Plus, when you’re throwing a buzzbait and a fish blows up on it and misses, you want to immediately toss a worm where he hit it. With this, you can just toss the worm back in there, and he’ll usually hit it.”
When a bass hits a buzz worm, Pierce advises that you hit it back — hard. Because most worm buzzing occurs in and around grass, he favors heavy gear. Specifically, he uses a 7-foot heavy action St. Croix Legend Extreme rod with a 6.3:1 Daiwa Zillion reel spooled up with 50-pound-test Vicious braid. Pierce says the titanium Recoil guides of the Extreme rod help cast braided line more easily, which is a big plus because he throws the worms weightless. “If you put any weight on the worm, you have to reel it too fast to keep it on the surface. You want to work it like a buzzbait — just fast enough so that it stays on top and buzzes,” he says. “You also want to rig the worm perfectly straight with the curl of the tail pointing down so that it gets the best buzzing action and doesn’t roll upon retrieve.”
Pierce rigs the worm on either a 5/0 or 6/0 extra-wide gap (EWG) hook, opting for the 6/0 in high winds. Before rigging a worm, he bends the point of the hook up slightly to increase the technique’s already high hookup percentage. As with most topwaters, though, Pierce says you need to pause before you hammer the hook home. “The best tip I ever got about topwater hook sets came from an old Bassmaster article on buzzbaits with Rick Clunn,” Pierce explains. “When you’re retrieving it, don’t watch the bait; look for the next place you’re going to cast. If you’re not watching it, you’ll hear the strike first and the pause is automatic. If you’re watching it, you react right away and risk pulling it away from the fish.”